NOW BACK TO THE OPERA SERIA: PERICLES & XERXES.
PERICLES & XERXES
●
A FOUR CYCLE OPERA
SERIA
IN
FOUR PARTS
●
Part I
Athens
&
The Athenians
●
Part II
Persepolis
&
Darius
&
The Persians
●
Part III
The Invasion of
Xerxes
upon
Athens
●
Part IV
The Rebuilding of
Athens,
by
Pericles
●
SUNG
in
●
Ancient Greek
&
Ancient Persian
●
with
Early Musical Instruments
Aolean Flute
Lyre
Persian Oud
Greek and Persian Strings
Drums,
Timpany
Pan Pipes
&
Percussion
added to
Baroque Instruments
Harpsichord,
Theorbo,
Archlute,
Baroque Lute,
Viola di Gamba
Violins
Double Bass,
Flutes
Recorders,
Kettle Drums
Horns
●
Boy's & Men's Chorus
●
Music
Story
True to Early Greek Life
&
Libretto
by
TZAIMS LUKSUS,FRSA
Work in Progress
1980 - 2026
●
Music
Composed
by
Tzaims Luksus, FRSA
●
SYNOPSIS
Time of Opening Scene
●
1 April 480 BC
Athens
●
Overture
●
PART I
Act I
Scene I
The Palaestra of Athens
Chorus of Young Athletes
Scene II
The Agora of Ancient Athens
Scene III
Palace of Xanthippis
b. Dining Court of Palace
c. Main Court Yard of Palacs
Scene IV
War Room of Strategos
Scene V
a. Damon's Music Studio
b. Anaxagorus Study
c. Agorista's Chambers in Palace
●
PART II
Scene I
Palace of Darius
Persepolis
Scene II
Darius Chambers in Palace
Scene III
Exexes War Room
Scene III
Banqueting Hall in Palace
Scene IV
Streets of Percepolis
Scene V
Persian Military Headquarters
●
PART III
Scene I
Thermopolae
Scene II
War Room of Xanthippis
Scene III
Temple of Athena
Scene IV
Road to Salamis
Scene V
Temple of Athena
PART V
Scene I
Greek Architects Studio
Athens
Scenes II - V
●
Main Characters
●
Pericles and Sophocles
●
are both
15 years old
and
best friends.
●
Pericles's father,
Xanthippus,
is
Strategos,
Military leader of Athens,
●
and
Sophocles' father,
Sophilus,
is a Creator,
Manufacturer
of
Military arms,
Helmets,
Shields,
Swords,
Bows & Arrows,
Supplying the
Athen's
Military
under the
command of
Xanthippus
●
Socrates
is
10 years old
●
Euclid of Megara
is
5 years old
●
AGARISTA
Mother of Pericles
●
Sophoclese's
Mother's name is unknown so Tzaims names her
Harmonia
Mother
of
Sophocles
●
Anaxagoras
Philosopher
Tutor
of
Pericles
●
Damon
Musician
Tutor
of
Pericles
●
Athena
Goddess of War
&
Protector
of
Soldiers & Sailors
●
ZEUS
●
POSEIDEN
●
Xerxes I
Son of
Darius I
The Great
of
Persia
●
is
19 years old
●
Time of Xerxes' Birth
519 BC
●
Spartans
●
Immortals of Xerxes
●
Chorus
of
Young Athenian Men
●
Extras
Super Numararies
●
General Story Line
●
Pericles and Sophocles are exercising in the Gymnasium and afterward bathing, laughing and playing games with one another joyfully.
●
They go into the Agora and look over new things to buy, but buy nothing, being wealthy and enjoying the peaceful beautiful ancient city of Athens they emmerse themseves in indulgences and soak in the early morning sun.
●
They go to the home of Pericles to dine at noon, finding Pericles' mother, Agarista and Harmonia, looking worried and not happy.
Pericles asks her what is wrong and she points to the courtyard where his father and Sothilus are engaged in serious discussion.
●
He and Sophocles do not disturb them but continue to have lunch in another dining court yard where musicians and dancers entertain them.
●
Scene II
●
Xanthippus & Sophilus
in
Courtyard Discussion
●
Word has come to Athens
by
Olympian Messenger
from
Marathon
With a message indicating
that Xerxes has successfully crossed the Hellaspont and headed for Thermopalae where 200 Spartans are in place, waiting to stop him, and then to Athens, if Xerxes army successfully defeating the Spatans, with 10 Thousand Immortals, he and the massive Persian Fleet is heading for
Athens
and
SALAMIS
●
They then meet with their commanders of the Athenian Army and Navy to prepare for the possible invasion of Attica.
●
Further news arrives that Xerxes defeted the 200 Spartans at Thermopolae and were free to reach Athens in only a few days.
Xanthippus orders the evacuation of the city of Athens to the Island of Salamis.
●
ACT II
SCENE I
●
The exothus of the Athenians
●
Despite successfully stopping Xerxes army, Xerxes and his 10 thousand Immortals enter Athens.
●
Xanthippus and his Admirals logistically are successful in destroying Xexes' Fleet at Salamis.
●
Acts II & III
Continue with war preparations by Xanthippus and domestic activity by Agarista in her domestic preparations to leave the city for Salamis,
●
Scenes of the 5 year old Euclid in Megara hearing the news from Athens vows to go there when he grows up.
●
Socrates joins Pericles and Sophocles wanting to join the army but he is only ten years old so they take him to help Agarista prepare to leave the city
●
Now that Xerxes is in Athens, and free to go through the abandonded city, his greatest desire is to go to the
Temple of Athena
and destroy it whilst he orders his immortals to burn
the ancient city of Athens.
●
All the young Athenians had just left the
Temple of Athena
praying in song and pyrric dance, for her protection as they chose to join the army and navy to defeat Xerxe's army and navy.
●
Pericles remains alone, hidden behind the golden statue of Athena as Xerxes enters and facing the Goddess, Xerxes mocks and insults her with his song of scatalogical words.
●
Pericles, brave and bold, in his finest golden uniform, with golden sword and shield comes out of hiding standing in the full bright light of a ray of the sun shining on him and the golden statue of Athena, giving Xerxes a shocking vision of a young male
God Warrior an apparition of
Athena's
reply.
●
Xerxes falls to his knees in submission, his head bowed, as Pericles raises his sword to cut off Xerxes' head, but the statue of Athena becomes alive and takes hold of the arm of Pericles holding back the thrust of his sword saying in song,
"No!"
●
Then frozen silence
●
"Do not defeat yourself by reducing yourself to the miserable mind of this miscreant. His life and ambition has come to its end and in defeat will live out the misery of his criminal actions here and now."
●
Xerxes raises his head staring penitently, gazing at both the golden young God and his Goddess protecting him, and thanks both for sparing his life in a tender song of surrender.
●
Xerxes then turns and looking outside the burning Temple of Athena, on the Acropolis, he sees his fleet on fire at Salamis.
●
Athens burns to the ground as Xerxes races to escape the fires.
●
He flees with his Immortals leaving Attica in total defeat by land back to Persepolis.
●
ACT 4
SCENE I
●
ATHENS
The Parthenon
Finished
in
BC 432
Propolaea
built and finished
BC 432 - 436
●
Continued art work on Parthenon
until
BC 436
●
Finale
●
After several scenes, building new on the Acropolis,
with
Euclid of Megara
coming to
Athens
to study with
Socrates
●
After the support of
ZEUS and POSEIDEN
defeating
Xerxes
they are celebrated by the Athenians.
●
Dedication of the
Propalaea
and the
Parthenon,
built by
Pericles
bow
Strategos
during the rebuilding of the City of Athens
funded by the
Delian Lesgue,
in white marble creating the
Golden Age of Athens
during and under
Pericles
now
Strategos
Leader and General of the
military government beginning under the first pure democracy of Athens.
●
Grand choral climax by entire cast on
The Acropolis.
●
Fin
●
Greek History
for
BC 480 - 436
●
My Research
for this details of this period of history
of
Athens
and the
Battles of Thermoplae
and
Salamis.
●
But who was who and how old were they?
●
Perhaps because I was born in the United States of Anerica and not in
Great Britain,
I was never educated to know much about anything outside USA history, since American education glossed over, especially ancient history, and
Classical Greek
and
Classical Latin
Early
Persian Zoroastrian
history
wasn't even mentioned,
nothing of this sort
was offered for study in the US as it was in the private schools in Londinium and Oxford college schools as were British school boys.
●
So all I knew of Athenian history was limited to modern Greece.
●
After living jn Athens, reading at the Library of Athens, the Greek philosophers, I only decided in about 1980 to delve further and more seriously into detail of early Greek history expecially when Xerxes invaded Athens, after his father Darius failed in his first Athenian invasion.
●
Who was who and how old were they?
●
To my amazement Pericles was 15 years old as was Sophocles the great writer of
tragic plays,
●
Socrates
was only 10 years old.
●
I decided to further research all I could concerning this great period in detail and the Greek youth and their lives.
●
So to tell this amazing story, I created my own vision through the eyes of the 15 year old Peticles deciding what I would do were I him at that time. What my life was. How I regarded Xerxes, as the son of the military ruler of my country.
●
I literally lived his life and created this story.
●
I began composing music for this opera but wasn't satisfied with much of what I came up with so I had to bend into a different arrangement of tonal scales, limiting, embellishing, decorating the music in dynamic synnetry and not abstract atonal or modern, and with limited notes and more minor tones embellishing each dramatic scene, which led me into the depths of ancient Aolian Greek heroic music, and Pyttic dance.
●
I could not, nor would I just copy existing songs, but I could add Aolian and early Greek rythums to my princicle themes and arias.
●
Then I realized I had to know ancient Persian music as well, so I could add music to Xerxes, his military, but also for scenes in Persepolis and flash backs to Darius in Persia.
●
I decided the libretto be sung in borh classical archaic Greek and classical archaic Persian languages.
●
In opera, seria opera especially,
which I decided to make the opera as a Neo-Baroque Seria form considering this was more suitable for this story than it would be for a Mercadante or Paccini (pre Verdi & Puccini) opera, so wording would be simple, repetitive, as in Purcell's opera
King Arthur
and his operas
●
The Faerie Queen,
●
The Indian Queen,
●
Dido & Aeneas.
●
Most of my original scores were recorded in the 1980s and transferred to my Mackintosh moniter through a song writing software program
●
That Mac has been stolen so I have to begin again by memory of all of my arias and music, but now I want to create a more esoteric, mysterious, Eric Sati, kind of unfamiliar score, not copying Sati, and Philip Glass, but going more deeply into the ancient language of music with new concepts for opera seria, rather like Neo-Baroque in a completely unfamiliar musical genre.
●
Am I able to do this?
●
YES!
●
Yet to do this
I need something other than a concert grand piano or even an electronic digital piano keyboard.
●
I needed a professional Synthesiser Keyboard and now in Rangoon, with everything being cut off from western governments, what could I find locally.
●
Well no problem
●
Rangoon has even more available than the US.
●
I decided on a professional
Yamaha P-225 Piano, but it was not satisfactory after testing it, for my needs, so I checked
Yamaha MODX8 88,
but again after trying one I didn't like the selections or quality of sounds.
●
No Harp,
Harpsichord,
Viola di gamba,
Theorbo,
Archlute,
Baroque Lute,
and certainly not a
Persian Oud,
●
Just mostly modern electronic rock and roll sounds so I went to a Rangoon specialist for a
Roland DS88.
●
Wow!
If I say so myself, knowing so little about Synthesisers.
●
Sounds like the finest Steinway 9 foot concert grand piano or an
Imperial Bosendorfer
Concert Grand Piano,
with thousands of instrument sounds to create the perfect Neo-Baroque seria opera as I visualize it. Not only are these sounds available for a classical ancient musical orchestra but sounds can be added. I need a Theorbo, Baroque Lute, a Persian Oud, and Archlute.
●
No problem,
I can add them.
●
So now!
●
The Opera
PERICLES & XERXES
●
Palace
of
Darius & Xerxes
●
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